Looking to set up containers in front of a 6 foot fence, with plants that could hopefully grow to 6 to 8 feet in height. Will bamboo grow in containers? I live in North Jersey, with pretty rough winters. Any suggestions are welcome- thanks!
Privacy foliage needed on a patio -
Morning Glories!!
The best privacy fence you can ask for. They'll cover it quickly with beautiful blooms all summer.
I think if you're looking for a perennial type plant, it will be hard since your winters are rough. Unless of course you're willing to drag those containers somewhere sheltered for the winter months.
Thanks - I am looking for something a little more permanent. I've noticed a neighbor in town with a bamboo growing in their yard and it seems to thrive all year round. Just not sure if they're compatible with container gardening.
Bamboo can be planted in containers, but the ones that are hardy in your area are going to be the running sort, so they may tend to outgrow their containers fairly quickly and need to be divided or repotted into something larger. Also when you're shopping for them, make sure you find ones that are hardy to at least 1 zone colder than where you are--being in containers tends to knock a little bit off the hardiness.
Well, they are hard to kill...LOL
Hopefully someone will chime in soon that knows more about them.
Thanks for the quick responses. The planters I'm using are 16-1/2" W x 39-1/4" L x 18-1/2" H. I'm going to experiment, but if anyone sees these as being a problem for some reason, feel free to speak up. I'm new to all of this, and this is for our weekend cabin, so I'm always looking for low-maintenance solutions.
I know ONE thing. If you get Bamboo. Don't set them free. Don't trust them. They are quiet little plants that always appear to need more space but they mind their own business. So you get confident and put them in the ground because these are "the clump type that don't run." And they don't MUCH that first year and you brag to your friends that you have a non running variety. You don't know why they find that amusing until you discover the next rainy spring that you have bamboo growing where once you had a perfectly good lawn.
The rest of the 3 year long battle is too ugly to tell. D in TN
Devota, don't I know it. When we first moved in, we were invaded with Mexican/False bamboo.... nothing kills it. We eventually regraded our yard and added about 3 feet of soil on top of that area. Waiting for this to pop through one of these years like Audrey II . So, here I go playing with fire, looking to introduce a real bamboo on our patio!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/32028/
If it's sitting in a pot on top of a patio it's not going to go anywhere...it's only when it can get in contact with the ground and escape into the yard that it causes problems.
Ah.. just kidding Dave. You'll be fine. I love Bamboo, just not in my yard. D in TN
We are still fighting the non-invasive bamboo a neighbor planted by the fence. They moved out for a year before the house sold and everyone now has bamboo. Another neighbor has tall grasses. They do spread but are easier to control, plus they look very pretty in the winter when they are dry. He cuts them down in the spring but they grow back quickly.
Pretty much any bamboo that grows in zone 5 is going to be the bad kind. There aren't a lot of clumping bamboos that are very hardy, I'm not sure if there are any at all that are hardy to zone 5 but there certainly aren't very many.
Maybe I'm going in the wrong direction - any other suggestions beyond bamboo?
There's nothing wrong with bamboo as long as you're putting it in a container rather than in the ground--it takes over the world via runners not seed, so as long as you have it in a container it can't expand beyond that.